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But the value of my data alone probably is worth less than a dollar to Google and Facebook. Given the choice of getting paid a dollar, or using it for free (in
by WingH 9y ago
But the value of my data alone probably is worth less than a dollar to Google and Facebook. Given the choice of getting paid a dollar, or using it for free (in exchange for them using my data), I would choose the latter.
Only in aggregate is it worth a lot.
- amelius 9y agoIn that case, I would pay Google and Facebook a dollar, and keep my data safe from their prying eyes.
- WingH 9y agoI would do that too. But the notion of getting paid for your data, when its worth so little by itself is not appealing.
- saas_co_de 9y ago> But the value of my data alone probably is worth less than a dollar Calculating the value of your data is pretty easy actually. Just take the market cap of the company divided by users to get an average. Google is at about $700B with may ~2B global users, so global average is more like $350/user. The value of US users is probably 10X less developed parts of world (based on ad rates) so US users are worth more like $3000. You are undervaluing yourself :) which is how they win.
- marcinzm 9y ago>Calculating the value of your data is pretty easy actually. No it's not. You're mixing up the value of the data with the value of your attention. The world has made a killing off of advertising long before personalization came about so saying it's all due to personalization is a bit silly imho.
- deong 9y agoIt's also conflating a bunch of stuff that goes into Google's valuation that isn't directly tied to ownership of your data. Once upon a time, Google just made a search engine, and that search engine quickly took over the world. Google made a lot of money plopping ads on search results long before you could create a Google account or store all your email there. Presumably, the technical ability to build products like that is worth actual money. If Google deleted all personal data, the company would not be worth $0.
- saas_co_de 9y ago> If Google deleted all personal data, the company would not be worth $0 They would be worth less than zero because without the personal data they would have no ad revenue to subsidize their money losing loss-leader ventures that only exist to collect data and/or suck people in to watch advertising.
- marcinzm 9y agoGoogle made plenty of money from search and search advertising before personalization.
- saas_co_de 9y agoWhat you search for is personal data. The search engine is just a targeting mechanism for ads. You tell Google what you are searching for and they serve you a targeted ad. That has always been the business model.
- marcinzm 9y agoBy that logic an ad in a travel magazine is using your personal data. I personally wouldn't consider search ads with no data being stored or user level history being used as not being personalized or user targeted. They're to me no different from an ad in magazine or a static banner ad on a web page.